Biosensors for the Diagnosis of Celiac Disease: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune enteropathy initiated and sustained by the ingestion of gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. It is caused by a dysregulated immune response toward both dietary antigens, the gluten proteins of wheat, rye, and barley, and autoantigens, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase (TG2). The small intestine is the target organ. Although routine immunochemical protocols for a laboratory diagnosis of CD are available, faster, easier-to-use, and cheaper analytical devices for CD diagnosis are currently unavailable. This review focuses on biosensors, consisting of a physicochemical transducer and a bioreceptor, as promising analytical tools for diagnosis of CD and other diseases. Examples of recently developed biosensors as well as expectations for future lines of research and development in this field are presented.